


Hiding Amongst the Greys

by Mycroffed



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Demon Shane Madej, M/M, Old Charleston Jail episode, With a sprinkle of Good Omens, hints of torture, hints of violence, nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:54:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23681941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mycroffed/pseuds/Mycroffed
Summary: Something's not right in the Old City Jail in Charleston, North Carolina. Will the ghoul boys figure things out? Or will the past catch up with one of them?
Relationships: Ryan Bergara & Shane Madej, Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Comments: 5
Kudos: 199





	Hiding Amongst the Greys

**Author's Note:**

> I don't usually write real life people, but since I put them in a fictional universe, I feel slightly better about this. Shyan is insinuated but not explicitly pointed out at any moment.
> 
> It's quite obvious, probably, but in no way am I affiliated with Buzzfeed Unsolved, Shane Madej, Ryan Bergara or any of the crew there. Good Omens belongs to Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet, I'm just having a bit of fun here.
> 
> Hope you enjoy it all!
> 
> Also, not beta-read, all mistakes are my own.

It’d be so easy to say that this story started on a rainy day, when a storm was rolling into town, announcing that something bad was about to happen. Then, it could have been called fate, as if nature had predicted what was going to happen next. But alas, the world rarely works that way. No, this story happened in Los Angeles on one of those very common spring days where the sky was the same colour it was in a child’s drawing. The trees were green with the new buds, which were slowly growing into fresh new leaves.

Shane Madej barely paid any attention to any of those things as he made his way into work.

He’d been stuck in traffic for way too long – despite being the one who had created the traffic jam, it got humans worked up and did wonders for his quota downstairs – and it had started to work on his mood a little. The only downside to using his powers to create something as stupid as this: he usually got stuck in it himself. It was, however, also one of the more harmless ways to get humans to go into Hell. He wouldn’t have to go out and tempt people individually, they were good enough at that themselves.

Another demon – because yes, Shane was one – had once explained to him that there was no reason for a demon to be rude, to be bad, to be _evil_. He’d shared some of his tricks – including messing with traffic and phone lines – with the younger demon. Shane had taken all those comments to heart when he had returned to LA afterwards.

His mood must have been visible on his face, because the first thing that Ryan Bergara said to him was: “Looks like _someone_ got out of bed on the wrong side this morning.”

“Just traffic.” Shane grumbled, barely even glancing up at the other, before plopping down behind his desk. “There’s only so much you can do when stuck in a driving vehicle that can’t go forward because of other driving vehicles.”

“Eloquent as ever.” Ryan laughed.

The pair of them had desks next to each other, which made working on their show together a lot easier. Buzzfeed Unsolved was Ryan’s baby, but Shane was more than happy playing the sceptic on that show. It worked well with the other’s belief and fans seemed to like it well enough. Ryan did most of the research, he mostly went along on the trips to comment on his ‘evidence’, to laugh in the face of demons. If only Ryan knew.

“So how’s the research going for tomorrow’s on-site filming? Is it a demon or a ghost this time?” Shane tried to sound a little less grumpy, tried to act like a normal human being.

“I’m almost done.” Ryan turned his screen towards Shane as best as he could, and the demon could just about make out the beginnings of a script. He knew that his friend would be able to finish that by tomorrow morning. Of course, the scripted part wouldn’t be filmed until a lot later, but the sooner that was taken care of, the better, he always thought.

“Looks good, looks good. So North Carolina, huh?” Shane leaned a little forward on his desk, his head resting in his hands. “The entire other coast. Am I picking you up tomorrow?”

“With your luck with traffic? No, let’s just meet at the airport.” Ryan turned his screen back, before typing out a few more words. “By six, and no later. We can’t afford to miss this flight.”

“Six, I’ll be there.” And just like that, the two of them each started working on their own projects.

Not many words were exchanged between the pair of them, besides an occasional question. At least, that was until lunchtime rolled around. “Hey, Shane?”

“Hmm?” The demon wasn’t exactly paying attention, he was too focussed on the article on his screen.

“You hungry?”

“Not really.” Shane didn’t exactly _need_ to eat, but he probably should, if he wanted to keep up appearances. “But if you want to eat somethin’, I’ll come along, I guess.”

“Wow, don’t do it just for _me_ , y’know.” Ryan shook his head a little as he pushed his chair back and got up. Shane expected him to go to the cafeteria on his own, but no, the human waited for him to put his computer into sleep-mode and get up as well.

“Eh, it’s mostly for your company.” Shane shrugged. “Let’s go.”

Before Ryan could even say anything about it, Shane had already started walking away, leaving him on his own near their desks. He deliberately took big strides, so that Ryan had to run for just a few moments in order to catch up. “Shane- hold on- just give me a moment to-”

He slowed down sufficiently so that Ryan could re-join him and then walked towards the cafeteria in silence. Shane could feel that his friend wanted to say something, but he seemed to hold back. By the time that they’d reached their destination, it seemed that many of their co-workers had had the same idea. They joined Jen at a table, only to have others take a seat besides them. Despite sitting next to each other, Shane and Ryan started talking to others, on the opposite side of the table, and before they knew it, lunch was over.

However, as Shane noticed that Ryan was about to leave for his desk again, he grabbed his arm for just a moment to catch his attention. “I’m off-site this afternoon. Got some things to do before tomorrow.” He smiled a little. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the airport, six a.m.”

Ryan nodded, before confirming the date and the place. “What are you doing? You didn’t tell me about it.”

“Oh, just some family business. Nothing too important.” Shane remained sufficiently vague, while technically still not lying to his friend. It was a skill he’d mastered over the years. “Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about.”

Shane was fairly sure that that comment earned him a little blush from Ryan, which only made him grin quite smugly. Ryan, in return, swatted at his arm. “Go then, big guy. And don’t be late!”

“When am I ever?” Shane laughed, before collecting his things – the walk back to the desk was quite awkward, actually – and then leaving for home once again.

Shane spent most of the afternoon messaging Crowley in London. The demon was one of his better friends – and the only fellow demon he would tolerate – but since the man liked sleeping like a normal human, that made talking a little bit difficult sometimes. They usually planned a very specific time for their calls, which was usually the only reason why he took time off. He loved his job, after all, and tried to put all his time towards that.

He sat down behind his laptop, booted up a program and called his friends in London. He’d expected a ginger-haired demon to show up on camera but was quite surprised when he realised that it was his angel friend there instead.

“Crowley’s on the way, Shane, no need to worry! He just woke up. It’s been some hectic few days here in London.” Aziraphale smiled, radiating that angelic energy that Shane had gotten to know. “You know what he’s like, but he didn’t want to miss this call.”

“Don’t tell lies, Angel.” A voice drifted in, even though Shane couldn’t see its owner just yet. “You woke me up.” A few seconds later, a ginger, long-haired demon appeared in the background, his hair unkempt and messy. He wasn’t wearing his glasses yet, but it wasn’t as if that was necessary. Everyone present knew exactly who he was.

“Okay, maybe. But you always talk about Shane, and that you miss talking to him occasionally.” Aziraphale protested, glancing around towards the demon.

Shane could see that it was said with love, but also that Crowley was now blushing furiously. “Oh just… shut up, Angel.” He grumbled, as he sat down right next to the angel. “Good afternoon, Shane.”

“Good afternoon, Crowley.”

After that, the conversation was filled with stories of their life, stories of Ryan – the two others were quite involved and interested in him, for some reason – and what they’d planned next. Shane learned that the pair was planning on moving from London to the South Downs. The others, in return, learned that Shane was planning on filming in North Carolina. The mention of the Old City Jail, however, got Crowley a little on edge.

“Shane, you’ve got to be careful. Get Ryan to bring some holy water, I’ve heard that that’s one of the favourite spots for demons to make their way up to Earth.” Crowley said. “There might actually be some others up there.”

“Eh, what’s going to happen?” Shane didn’t seem to be worried, no matter what demons might be there. “I’ll just show off a little and then they’ll go running back home.”

Aziraphale and Crowley exchanged a look, before the angel started to talk again. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy, Shane. You might not be as high up the ranks as Crowley is, I’m sure that they’re not going to just let you go that easily.”

“It’ll be _fine_.” Shane waved both their worries away. He had been lucky so far, he’d bumped into a few ghosts and ghouls over the course of his investigations with Ryan, and they had always left them alone. He might have made it clear that he wasn’t one to mess with to each and every one of them, and each time they made their way out, undisturbed. “We’ll be _fine_.”

After that, the trio exchanged some more formalities, some ‘goodbye’s and then the call was over as abruptly as it had begun. Shane leaned backwards, suddenly a little bit more nervous than he’d been before about the next day.

Luckily, Obi seemed to pick up on that and ran over, only to curl up in his lap.

The next morning was already not his favourite the moment that he opened his eyes. He had stayed up too long the evening before, worried about what might happen when he opened his eyes again. (Though, of course, he would deny that if ever asked.) He might not need sleep, but if he did end up sleeping, eight hours always felt better than a meagre three.

Obi was mewling at his bedside, demanding pets and cuddles and food.

The demon grumbled something towards the cat, watched as Obi seemed to debate whether he should try again, or whether he should just leave Shane to wake up in peace. One eye was opened and finally focussed on the ginger cat, only to have the cat dash away. Good. At least he could wake up in his own time now.

A shower, some breakfast and a cup of coffee later, Shane was all ready to leave for the airport. He’d packed after the call with London, slung his backpack upon his back and said goodbye to Obi. He’d left some food behind, the cat would be fine until the next evening. He then walked out of his apartment and got into the Uber he’d called earlier. This time, he made sure that traffic was completely clear – he was already running a little late-ish – and they arrived at the airport in record time.

“Shane, finally!” Ryan called out once he spotted his friend. He was clearly getting a little nervous, for different reasons. The demon might take advantage of that later on during the day. Or evening. Whenever he got the chance.

“Hey, it’s five o’ fifty-nine. I still have one minute to spare.” He joked, as he put his bag down for just a moment. “Alright, security first, then lounging around for a few hours while we wait for our plane to depart.”

“As always, you hit the nail right on the head, big guy.” Ryan rolled his eyes at him, though there was a playful aspect to it. “But let’s get going.”

The airport was just plan boring. Shane at some point just sat down on a bench, glued a coin to the ground and watched as people kept trying to pick it up, over and over again. The only downside to that was that it was difficult to keep his laughter hidden from Ryan and the rest of the crew, who wouldn’t enjoy that as much as he did. (He totally didn’t forget that he’d glued it to the floor when he’d gone to the toilet. He didn’t try to pick it up, only to remember, disappointed, that he’d glued that down. He really was a useless demon, wasn’t he?)

The flight was even worse. He was just too tall to fit comfortably in the small space provided on airplanes. He didn’t have any space for his legs, and he couldn’t exactly create more space for him with Ryan sitting this close to him. He couldn’t risk his co-host spotting this and using him as proof of the supernatural. That was the last thing he could use right now.

He let out a sigh of relief when he was allowed to leave the airplane. He practically jumped up – it was fast enough to make Ryan chuckle softly to himself – and darted out of the plane, making sure that the other people in the hallway had some coincidental trouble with their seatbelts. He left Ryan and the rest of the crew behind in the plane, not stopping until he was standing on solid ground.

It was then that he turned around, letting out a soft sigh of relief.

“Every time, huh?” Ryan asked when he finally caught up with the taller man. “I’m sorry, big guy.”

“You’d think I’d get used to it with how often we fly.” He huffed softly, before offering a small smile to his friend. “I might just take a few days off after the shoot and drive a car back.”

“A roadtrip, huh? How long has it been since you’ve done that?”

That was a question that Shane couldn’t answer all that easily. The truth was something that Ryan wouldn’t understand _at all_ , because it’d been centuries ago. So he lied. “When I was in college, with a couple of chums.”

“That sounds like fun, where’d you go?”

“Just a town a few hours away from university.” Ryan really didn’t want to drop this, huh? Shane would just keep being vague until his friend would drop the subject.

“Well, I might just join ya.”

This got Shane’s attention and immediately his head snapped up, curiously, to look at Ryan. Did he mean this? Or was he just saying it in order to not be stuck in a plane on his own? “Sure. I won’t stop you.”

His co-host beamed at him. “Come on, let’s go grab our luggage and gear and get to location.”

After nodding, the pair of them, followed by the few crewmembers who’d joined them, made their way through the rest of the airport. It took a good half hour before they had everything again – and of course had checked whether everything was still in pristine condition. Last thing they wanted was to show up on location, only to realise that everything was broken.

Up next, they hired a car, which Ryan then drove to location. This wasn’t being filmed just yet, so Shane could easily get away with messing around on his phone, barely paying attention to the world around him. He’d had an early morning, had not been able to sleep on the plane, and now he _really_ could do with a little nap. (Crowley would be proud, said a voice in the back of his head.)

Ryan had been talking to him for a while, it seemed, by the time that Shane noticed. “—many potential ghosts, maybe even a portal towards Hell. I hope this won’t become the demon episode, because I haven’t exactly brought my holy water.”

“You won’t need it here.” Shane said, mostly out of habit. He had done none of the research, barely knew anything about the place, but as long as he was there, most demons would just fuck off and leave them alone.

“Because demons don’t exist, I know, I know.” Ryan rolled his eyes at his tall friend. “I know your schtick by now.”

Shane could answer that honestly, but Ryan wouldn’t believe him either way, so he just stayed quiet instead. That was enough to launch him once again into a quick summary of his research, so that Shane had something to bounce off on during the actual filming of the episode.

“So, are you ready?” Ryan asked, looking up.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s go hunt some ghosts.”

Cameras were booted up, they were equipped with their own little chest cameras, a flashlight, and all the equipment that they could possibly need. This was usually the part where Ryan started to regret things, so Shane made sure to keep an eye on him, made sure to check whether he needed some calming words from a friend or not. But no, it seemed that he was just fine, for once. By the time the entire crew was ready, night had fallen, and filming began.

Shane followed Ryan onto the courtyard of the old jail building, glancing around with his flashlight. He couldn’t feel any supernatural presences yet, but then again, they weren’t anywhere close near the building yet.

“The infamous Old City Jail.” Ryan said. “Looks horrible.”

“Warm welcome for us.” Shane smiled a little.

“Another fun fact,” it wasn’t the first one of the evening. “We’re about to walk past where the gallows was, they would hang people on site.”

“That’s cheery.”

“Not really.” Ryan said. “Also not cheery, this balcony.”

“No, looks like an old witch hat.” Shane turned his senses towards the balcony, but still. There was no ghostly presence. Not even a hint of it. Usually, the places that Ryan picked out had _some_ paranormal activity here and there, some even had a ghost who could fully form – who Shane then promptly chased away, of course – but nothing? At all? That was very unusual.

“Let’s walk through it, huh?”

“That sounds good.” The pair walked forward and onto the stairs of the building, ready to enter.

“I feel horrible.” Ryan sighed as they walked up the stairs.

Shane’s eyes flashed towards him, looking him over. He seemed fine enough, for now. On top of that, there was nothing around them, so everything should be fine. It wasn’t the ghosts and ghouls yet who were making Ryan uncomfortable.

Once they were inside, his co-host walked them from room to room, talking a little bit about the history and the potential ghosts everywhere. Still, he couldn’t feel anyone else, besides them and the crew. Now it was Shane’s turn to get a little uncomfortable, a little nervous, because this never happened. It was almost as if someone was purposefully hiding things from him.

It wasn’t until they walked into the room where there was the biggest potential for a demon that Shane’s senses suddenly started pinging. There was something here. Something strong. Something he wouldn’t be able to just chase away by flashing his eyes or his carefully hidden horns. If this entity wouldn’t leave them alone, it might actually come down to a fight.

So Shane’s solution? Be a cocky bastard. There was a lonely chair in the middle of the room, which he then promptly grabbed and sat down on, the wrong way around. “Okay Ghouls.” He started.

“Okay…” Ryan muttered in the background, probably just loud enough for the microphone to pick that up.

“They call me Shane.”

“He’s Magic Shane.”

“And I’m here to send you back to Hell.” He was almost growling, making it clear – without making it too obvious – that he wasn’t here to play.

“To any non-human entities who reside in this room, we’re here to communicate.” Trust Ryan to want to _talk_ with demons. He booted up the spirit box, before continuing. “So let’s rock.”

“If you’re inhuman, if you’re some kind of demon ghoul spectre, you especially we’d love to talk to you.” At this point, he could clearly feel the entity, standing in the corner of the room. He almost turned towards it, but that’d be too much of a give-away. “We’ve got experiences with a-holes like you. Got ourselves a bridge, I’ll tell you that. Despite what Wikipedia says, we own a bridge.”

He could sense that Ryan’s attention was mostly directed towards the rest of the room, glancing around for any potential movement, for _anything_ that might signal that there was something else in there.

“They can’t stop us.” Ryan always was a little more confident when he was in the room, and it showed.

“Cowards.” Shane spat out, as a final taunt towards the entity in the room.

“ _True_.” The spirit box spat out, which was then followed by a bang. In an attempt to relieve the tension in the room a bit, Shane brought up a beat-boxing demon, especially after the second bang. They then got a bit distracted, too busy laughing to listen to the voice coming from the box.

However, after those few bangs, there were no more reactions. In fact, the entity seemed to retreat, seemed to pull back and disappear from his senses once more. That wasn’t something that the demon liked very much. In fact, he much rather knew where the danger was coming from, he much rather knew that there was someone spying on him than this: just nothing.

The rest of the tour seemed to go off without a hitch. Ryan claimed to feel some tugs, Shane joked around a bit, nothing special. At some point, Ryan was sure that he heard some coughs, but Shane knew that nobody else was there. The ghoul boys made it through the rest of the jail safely and Shane was about to relax when it was time for their individual shoots.

They both started out downstairs, outside, where Ryan could sit in a pool of light with the rest of the crew. Shane was very much aware that his friend would just be working himself up, would just be getting himself more and more nervous to roam around the entire prison on his own. So he quickly let TJ know that he’d better keep an eye on him, sometimes change the subject a bit, maybe.

Just in case.

Shane then took a deep breath and walked into the prison on his own. In the beginning, everything seemed fine. No demon-senses were going off, no spirits seemed to be talking to him. His grin only became wider and wider as he moved deeper into the building.

That all changed when he walked into the demon-room from before. He could sense that entity from before again, much to his surprise, but he wasn’t alone. It appeared that he had brought friends. Shane swallowed tightly, before putting on a brave face. “If anyone’s in this room, why don’t you throw some pebbles at me?”

Immediately, he was hit in the face by a handful of the little stones.

“Oh, so you wanna fight, huh?” He lowered his camera – this wasn’t something that Ryan needed to see – and dropped that carefully crafted human disguise. His eyes were no longer a warm brown, no, they’d turned pitch black. If anyone would be able to see his pupils, they’d see that those were doubled now. Horns were slowly appearing as well, curling around his ears, like ram’s horns would. He was getting ready to either scare them off or fight, since that was what they appeared to want.

“You’ve been hiding for long enough now, _Shane_.” His name echoed in the room as one of the entities – he recognised them now, it was Steve, one of the lower demons – stepped forward. “But no more. Time for you to come home.”

“Y’know, Steve. I’d rather stick around a bit. I’m in the middle of something here.” Shane put the camera down on the ground, subtly turned in the direction that the other demon was standing. “Besides, can’t let the humans outside know that we actually exist, huh?”

One of the other demons now stepped forward – uh-oh, that was one of the succubi, but he wasn’t quite sure of her name – with a smug grin around her lips. “Either you come home, _Shane Madej_ , or we will kill those friends you so mindlessly brought here.”

That was more than enough for Shane to go into what he called his protective mode. Nobody lay a finger on any of the humans outside – but especially Ryan – without his permission. A low growl could be heard coming from Shane, one that echoed through most of the building. “If you touch them, you die. It’s as simple as that.”

“Not even you are strong enough to protect all three of them from all of us.” Steve smirked. “Did you really think we came alone? There are plenty of us waiting, right on the other side, for you to come along, peacefully. If you don’t, we’ll just have to kill them all. Everyone you care about. And it’ll be all. Your. Fault.”

Shane knew that he didn’t have a lot of choices here. He might be able to hold of a couple of demons on his own - he was a good fighter, after all – but every single one of them? That was impossible, even for him. He’d have to give in. His own life was much harder to extinguish that a human’s, after all. He would eventually manage to come back. He’d make new friends. Granted, they wouldn’t be _Ryan_ , but they’d be friends nonetheless. So he gave in. “Can I at least go warn them? Tell them to leave?”

“Why would we allow that?” Steve tilted his head. “No, no, Shane. It’s time for you to come with us.”

“I’ll just tell them to _not come look for me_ , that _I’ll be fine_. That there is _no reason to be worried._ ” Shane glanced at his camera, which was still recording. He would probably not be able to finish the recording, but if he was lucky, Ryan would find it fast enough. “He needs to know to _keep himself safe._ ”

“That’s _enough_.” Steve stepped forward, grabbing Shane by the arm. “Leave those silly devices here and come with us or watch as all your friends die. It’s your choice.”

Shane might be taller, but he knew better than to fight today. He quickly took all electronic devices off his person, took the opportunity to turn the recording off after all, so that the battery wouldn’t be completely drained. He then sent Ryan a quick text, before leaving his phone right next to camera. There was an unsent text still there, for his friend to discover when he found all of this.

“Okay, I’m ready.” Shane said, even though he wasn’t, not really.

“You’ll never be ready for where you’re going, big guy.” Steve grinned, as he tugged Shane towards the portal. The taller demon glanced around one last time, as a wave of regret crashed into him, and then disappeared from the surface of the Earth.

Ryan knew something was wrong when he heard the growl echo through the building. That wasn’t a noise that could usually be heard, not without a _big_ animal somewhere nearby. He knew for a fact, however, that there were no animals big enough to growl that loudly anywhere near the building. So there was only one other option: something had gone wrong. Shane had encountered something – maybe he’d _finally_ believe him – and he’d pissed it off.

One look at his other friends, and they were all collectively storming inside, looking for the giant-looking human. “Shane? _Shane_!” Their yelling bounced off the walls, could be heard in the entire neighbourhood, but there was absolutely no reaction coming from anywhere. Ryan could feel a little panic attack growing inside of him; if they didn’t find Shane anytime soon, he didn’t know what he’d do.

He reached for his phone, maybe Shane was just playing a prank on him, maybe Shane would pick up the phone and tell him what was going on. He blinked at his screen in the darkness of the room around him, a new message blinking at him.

‘Don’t worry, Ry. I’ll be fine.’

That didn’t sound like a text someone would send when they were trying to play a prank. No, that was one that’d be sent when they knew that something was up and when they wouldn’t be able to see each other for a while. The knot in his stomach twisted a little tighter and if not for TJ, he would have had a panic attack right there.

“Ryan. We’ve found something.”

TJ guided him back to the room where they’d beat-boxed before, to the room where he’d said it’d be most likely to find a demon. The moment he walked in, he knew something had happened. Shane’s stuff was on the ground: the flashlight, the camera, even his phone was abandoned on the ground. He rushed forward, his hands trembling as he tried to open the camera. He needed to get to that footage, it might explain what had happened to Shane, to his friend, to-

Oh, why was breathing so hard, all of a sudden? Was it always this hot in this room?

TJ knelt down next to him, which calmed him down just enough to open the view-finder of the camera. He rewound a couple of minutes of the footage, then pressed on play.

“– _Shane Madej_ , _or we will kill those friends you so mindlessly brought here.”_

The shot wasn’t great, the camera was clearly on the ground already, but Ryan was fairly sure that he could make out a figure, standing in front of Shane. Before he could figure out anything more, before he could figure out who this person was, that growl that had alerted them of the danger in the first place echoed into the room again. Only… It didn’t seem to come from the strange creatures, no. It sounded like that was _Shane_.

 _“If you touch them, you die. It’s as simple as that.”_ Ryan had never heard Shane speak like that. It was almost as if he wasn’t afraid of whatever was standing in front of him.

_“Not even you are strong enough to protect all three of them from all of us. Did you really think we came alone? There are plenty of us waiting, right on the other side, for you to come along, peacefully. If you don’t, we’ll just have to kill them all. Everyone you care about. And it’ll be all. Your. Fault.”_

Ryan’s heart dropped. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t just a ghost, no, that was impossible. This was something far more dangerous than that. What would they want with Shane? Why would he have to come along peacefully?

Wait. Did this mean that Shane had known about the supernatural all along? That he had just pretended not to believe for Ryan’s sake? A flash of anger coursed through him, but he immediately pushed that down again. Now was not the time. He needed to find his friend first, then he could get angry for all the apparent lies.

_“Can I at least go warn them? Tell them to leave?”_

And just like that, all the anger melted away again. Shane had tried to protect them, had tried to get a message to them, he just hadn’t been allowed to do that. That only gave Ryan more reason to go look for him, because his friend clearly needed it! Wherever they’d taken him, he’d follow. He’d go to Hell if that was what it took. There were myths about going down there, right? It _must_ be possible.

 _“Why would we allow that? No, no, Shane. It’s time for you to come with us.”_ Ryan wanted to punch the guy who seemed to be the leader of this little gang of misfits. Of-of demons, or whatever they were. He knew it might not really have any effect on them, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t at least _try_.

“ _I’ll just tell them to_ not come look for me _, that_ I’ll be fine _. That there is_ no reason to be worried _. He needs to know to_ keep himself safe _._ ” Shane glanced at the camera and Ryan felt his heart stop. Of course, the first thing he noticed were the pitch-black eyes: those were nothing a human would ever have. That confirmed his suspicion, that Shane was one of _them_. He had to pause the recording for a moment to process that.

“TJ, did you- he’s one of them- his eyes- What the hell does this mean?” Ryan looked up at the other, hoping for an explanation, but that wasn’t something that he could give.

“What did he say, exactly, Ryan?”

His attention was turned back towards the recording, the one that told him that he shouldn’t come look for his friend. “Bull shit.” Ryan huffed, after pausing it once again. “Does he really think that I won’t come looking for him? That I don’t care enough about him to come looking for him, no matter where he is? Who does he think he is?”

There was no answer. But then again, did Ryan really need one? Didn’t he already know what Shane would say, if he’d been there? He sighed again, before pressing the play button once more.

_“That’s enough. Leave those silly devices here and come with us or watch as all your friends die. It’s your choice.”_

The recording ended in a fumbling of the camera, with the last frame one of this weird version of Shane. The eyes, the deepest black Ryan had ever seen, and horns, curling from his forehead around his ears. (How exactly had he missed that before?) Even after the screen had stopped moving, he was still staring at it. This was his friend. A version that he’d kept hidden, sure, but it was _still_ his friend.

And he’d do anything to get him back.

Shane had no idea how long he’d been down there again. It could have been an hour, it could have been a day, or a week even. Time was meaningless in Hell, especially when those in power thought that you had done something wrong. He was chained against a wall, his arms raised above his head. (He’d lost all feeling in them long ago.) He’d also reverted to his full demon form: there was fur covering his shoulders, his chest, even his hair had gotten more matted. His horns were fully present, and there were two different colours in his eyes now: they were still brown, though darker than before, but the pupils were those of a goat. His little furry tail was hidden by his trousers, the only piece of clothing that he was allowed to wear.

He just didn’t have the energy to keep up his more human appearance. He was too busy keeping his body together. It still ached all over, but it had stopped bleeding, at least. He had given up on the idea of ever seeing his friend again, he would never be granted permission to go to Earth ever again, not after how far he’d gone this time.

He’d given up all hope.

But then.

A tickle in his stomach. A buzzing in his ears. This was familiar. He’d experienced this before, ages and ages ago, when he’d first been summoned to Earth. A small, weak smile was visible around his lips as he gave into the feeling, as he allowed his body to fade and reassemble on the surface once again.

“Shane!”

That voice… He knew that voice. His eyes slowly moved upwards, made eye contact with its owner.

Ryan.

“Shane, it’s all good, you’re safe now, you’re back on Earth.” Ryan rushed forwards, his arms wrapping around his lithe frame, right as he was about to collapse. “I’ve got you.”

He looked up, his smile grew a little wider, before his eyes rolled back in his sockets and everything turned black once again.

When he woke up again, he was wearing soft clothes. He was even surrounded by a soft fabric, which was something he hadn’t felt in ages. His body was still aching, but no longer did all his energy have to go towards making the pain _stop_. So instead, he directed it towards making the fur disappear, making his horns invisible again. He put some effort in towards his eyes as well, but that was just a little bit too much to ask, it seemed.

His arms, finally free to move again, pushed himself up. He glanced around the room, unfamiliar at first, but then realisation hit: he was in Ryan’s bedroom. What was he doing in Ryan’s bedroom? A frown settled between his brows as the movement upwards continued: he moved his legs and swung them over the edge of the bed, then pushed himself onto his feet.

His balance was off for a moment, and his first few steps resembled those of a new-born deer, trying to walk. However, he quickly got the hang of it again, and made his way towards the living room, where he found Ryan, sitting on his sofa. He cleared his throat, not trusting the damn thing to make much more noise than that.

Immediately, the dark-haired man looked up, his eyes lighting up as he saw his friend standing there. “Shane.” His voice was thick with relief, something that the demon hadn’t exactly _expected_ from him. “You’re awake.”

“How long have I been out?” He asked, his voice raspy, as suspected.

“A few days.” Ryan answered. “You just wouldn’t wake up and that state that I found you in, I just couldn’t bring myself to wake you.”

Shane nodded, before stumbling over towards the sofa, collapsing on there, right next to Ryan. “A few days.” He repeated. “And how long… how long was I down there?”

“A week.” Ryan mumbled. “It took me a while to find the right summoning spell. And then, I needed to try a few times before I got all the ingredients right…” He cleared his throat as well. “You look more—”

“Human?” Shane suggested.

“ _You_. You look more like yourself again.” Ryan made eye contact with Shane again, barely blinking at the eyes that should still remind him of what he was.

“I assume you have questions?”

“Later. Those can wait, Shane, until you’re feeling… better.”

The demon nodded once again, relief coursing through him. He wouldn’t have to answer anything just yet. He’d get some time to not only get better, but also wrap his head around what exactly had happened to him.

“Now, would you like some popcorn?”

That was enough to make Shane’s eyes light up as he nodded. Ryan chuckled softly, before getting up and going in the direction of the kitchen. By the time he came back with a bowl of freshly made popped corn, the demon had gotten comfortable on the sofa, only to have fallen asleep once again.

The demon’s recovery was slow. For once, he couldn’t just heal himself, since these wounds had been afflicted by weapons that could, in fact, harm a demon. While he was no longer bleeding, he was still particularly weak. So he stayed at Ryan’s place, let the human mother hen him. Well, at least he did when Ryan was at home, when he wasn’t at work. (Shane himself had called in sick, claimed that he had fallen off a horse, that he was stuck in the hospital as he worked on getting better.)

Most of the days, he spent in Ryan’s apartment, sleeping. The evenings were in the company of the human, answering many of his questions. Most of them he’d seen coming from a long way off: ‘how long have you been a demon?’, ‘have you always been Shane?’, ‘how old are you?’ Sometimes, there was a surprise amongst the questions, but nothing he couldn’t handle.

Of course, he had some questions of his own, but he always kept them back, always though that they were unimportant. After all, it could upset the gentle balance that the two men had found themselves. It wasn’t until a full two weeks and a half after his return to Earth that he decided that that day was _the day_. He felt good enough to walk around for longer than to make his way from the bedroom to the living room. In fact, by the time that Ryan returned, he had prepared something that was supposed to be dinner.

He was standing by the stovetops when Ryan walked in, the smaller man’s eyes immediately glancing towards the couch in search of his friend.

“Shane?” He sounded worried, so the demon popped his head out from behind the corner.

“Right here, Ryan.” Shane smiled.

“Hey, you’re up. What’re you doing, tall guy?” Ryan walked over towards him, his eyes widening as he spotted the food that Shane had made.

“Y’know. Just cooking. As I am known to do.” He smiled, as he filled the plates with the pasta and the sauce he had made. “I just needed to do something to thank you for letting me stay here for so long.”

“Shane…”

Completely oblivious to the fact that Ryan was almost moved to tears by this, the demon continued to ramble. “Not only did you let me stay here, did you take care of me when I was hurt, but you also got me out of a very difficult situation. I don’t know any other humans who’d be able to-to accept that their friend, who they’ve known for ages, is a demon, and then proceed to summon them from the cage that Hell has been keeping them in. And don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful that you did so much for me. I’m just… surprised.”

At that point, he finally glanced up at his friend and realised what effect his words were having. “Oh. Did I- did I cross the line?”

“No.” Ryan managed to stutter. “No, of course not. I’m just glad that you’re feeling better.”

“I’ll be out of your hair soon enough, now. And then we can go back to annoying each other at work.” Shane smiled.

“Oh. Right.” Was it the demon’s imagination – despite to popular belief, he did have one – or did Ryan sound disappointed?

“But before that, dinner!” He handed one of the two plates over to Ryan, then made his way over towards the table. It was set already, so he watched as the other put his plate down and picked up his cutlery after sitting down as well.

Most of the meal was enjoyed in silence – an awkward one, at that – until Shane finally got the courage together to ask that question that had been plaguing him ever since he’d woken up. “Ryan? Why aren’t you running away from me, screaming in fear?”

“Huh?” Ryan glanced up from his plate, his mouth still full.

“I’ve heard you say so many times that demons are your biggest fear. And here I am, sitting in front of you. In fact, you’ve seen me at my least human and still, you’re here.” He genuinely didn’t understand at all. “Why?”

The human finished his bite, swallowed – and stalled for time. “Because you’re my friend, Shane. And to be fair, I had some time to adjust to the idea of you being a demon.”

There was a silence where neither of the two men said anything.

“Plus, I watched the footage over and over, it was clear that you meant no harm to me. In fact, you even went with them to protect us all, so. I’d argue that it was my fault that you were in that situation to begin with.” Ryan shrugged a little, staring at his almost empty plate. “And I didn’t immediately go to look for that summoning ritual.”

“But you came through in the end.” Shane said softly. “I’m here because of you, Ryan. No, I’m here _thanks_ _to you_.”

The two of them smiled at each other for a moment, appreciating each other’s words.

“Uhm. So yeah. I think I’ll be going to my own apartment again tomorrow.” Shane said. “I’m sure that Obi has missed me like crazy by now.”

“Yes, of course. Will I be seeing you at work tomorrow?” Ryan glanced up, making eye contact with the tall guy.

“Of course. I’ll be there. For as long as you’ll have me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are fire that fuel my soul (:


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